396 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 14, 



and the mussy and dauby system that 

 goes with them, I think, is destined to 

 shelf them sooner or later. Their only 

 redeeming quality is that they make 

 foundation upon the flat plate plan, 

 and do away with side-wall pressure, 

 pulling and stretching, the same as is 

 the case with the Given dies. I think 

 that no person can make so great a 

 mistake as to hive swarms on empty 

 frames, or those partly filled, or any 

 not full of comb foundation. If you 

 have not bees enough to afford a press, 

 and live too far from one of your size 

 frame to afford the enormous cost of 

 transportation, by all means wire your 

 frames, and buy full size sheets and 

 fill them by hand with this best gift to 

 bee-keepers — pure beeswax comb 

 foundation. 



These sheets put on by hand work 

 pretty well if carefully done, and 

 though not so good as those put there 

 by the press, and though a tedious job 

 comparatively, it pays far better than 

 not to do it, because perfectly straight 

 all-worker combs, securely held by 

 wires, are not only "a thing of beauty" 

 and " a joy forever" to look upon, but 

 they are things of profit as long as 

 they exist. Let us pay the debt of 

 gratitude we honestly owe, by giving 

 " honor to whom honor is due" for the 

 discovery, perfection and introduction 

 of this splendid assistant to successful 

 bee-culture — comb foundation. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Dec. 7, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Model Bee-House. 



JAMES MCINTYRE. 



Recently I had the pleasure of visiting 

 Mr. Whitfield, of Dundas, and found 

 he had a bee-house which came the 

 nearest to perfection of any I have 

 seen. With his permission I will en- 

 deavor to give the readers of the Bee 

 Journal a brief description of its 

 principal points. Before proceeding. 

 however, let us inquire what is perfec- 

 tion in a bee-house ? I think all will 

 agree that a house in which the air 

 can be kept pure and dry, and at any 

 desired temperature between 35° and 

 50°, independent of the outside tem- 

 perature, without opening the doors 

 or in any way disturbing the bees, is 

 all that can be desired. 



The house is built above ground; 

 the wall contains 18 inches of dry saw- 

 dust and a 4-inch dead-air space ; on 

 the floor above is 18 inches of sawdust, 

 the bottom ventilator is 4 feet under 

 ground at the house, and lOOfeet long. 

 The air enters the house through this 

 at a temperature of 45° winter and 

 summer. While we were walking out 

 to the bee-house Mr. Whitfield re- 

 marked that after putting his bees in 

 the weather became warm, the tem- 

 perature of the house rose to 70°, and 

 the bees came out on the fronts of 

 their hives ; this set him to thinking 

 how he should keep them cool, and he 

 finally decided that the best thing he 

 could do was to put in a stove. 1 

 hardly knew what to think of such a 

 statement as that, but soon found it to 

 be a fact. 



When we arrived at the house he led 

 the way up a flight of stairs on the out- 

 side of the building, and entered 

 above. Here we found a small coal 

 stove inclosed in a tin box, with a pipe 

 running from the top of the box out 

 through the roof, and another from the 

 bottom down into the house below. 

 The hot air in the box passing upward, 

 caused the air to rush in through the 

 bottom ventilator at a temperature of 

 45°, which soon brought the tempera- 

 ture of the house down to 48° ; this 

 made the bees enter their hives and 

 remain perfectly quiet. The hot air 

 seems also to attract the moisture from 

 below, leaving the air dry and fresh. 

 The thermometer is dropped through 

 a hole in the floor near the stove, and 

 is attached by a cord to the cover of 

 the hole. By putting the ear to this 

 hole he can hear a bee flv below. In 

 warm winters it is often very difficult 

 to keep the temperature in the houses 

 low enough to prevent the bees becom- 

 ing uneasy, with ordinary ventilators, 



for as soon as the outside temperature 

 rises above the temperature of the 

 house, the air ceases to circulate, and 

 soon becomes very impure and warm. 

 Mr. Jones has an arrangement for 

 holding ice near the top of the room 

 to keep down the temperature, but 

 will this cause the air to circulate— 

 will it not make the air damp, and 

 disturb the bees more or less opening 

 the doors and putting in the ice '( 



As Mr. Whitfield's arrangement will 

 only lower the temperature to 48° in 

 warm weather, I would suggest an- 

 other improvement by which it can be 

 lowered to 38°if desired, and still keep 

 the air pure and dry, without entering 

 ttie house : Make a box 18 inches wide, 

 6 feet long, 18 inches deep, with a 

 cover to fit ; cut a circular hole 7 inches 

 in diameter in each end, and run a 7- 

 inch stove-pipe through it; connect 

 this with a pipe running through the 

 wall and up ttie inside within a foot of 

 the top ; fill the box with snow or ice 

 with a little salt in it, close the bottom 

 ventilator, and allow the air to be 

 drawn in through this pipe. Perhaps 

 some will say this is too much trouble 

 and expense. The stove only consumes 

 10 lbs. of coal per day, and as for the 

 trouble, what is gained without care ? 



Strathroy, Out., Nov. 21, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



New Methods of Wintering Bees. 



¥11. F. CLARKE. 



The problem of wintering bees still 

 awaits full solution. There is no 

 method of which we can say that it 

 will be uniformly and infallibly suc- 

 cessful. As all signs fail in drouth, so 

 all known methods of wintering bees 

 fail during such a winter as the past. 

 So we must keep on investigating, 

 theorizing and experimenting. 



THE ANTI-I'OLLEN THEORY. 



Mr. Heddon has conceded that at 

 present, this is only a " guess." But 

 he says in the course of his rejoinder 

 to me, " I thought I had made it clear 

 that I believed the eating of bee-bread 

 by the older bees during continued 

 confinement, was the cause of dysen- 

 tery." So 1 thought. Hence my let- 

 ter, the main object of which wa's to 

 tone down what I considered unwar- 

 rantable confidence in a new, and as 

 yet, untested theory. Mr. Heddon 

 now puts it on the same footing as the 

 " bacteria hypothesis." I am content. 

 There let it rest until further light 

 either relegates it to the " bacteria" 

 oblivion, or exalts it into a discovery, 

 in which latter case I shall not be- 

 grudge Mr. Heddon his well-won 

 honors. I do not need to answer Mr. 

 Heddon's last article in full. It is made 

 up of a re-statement of his former ar- 

 guments which I thought, and still 

 think, inconclusive; of explanations, 

 which are always in order, and of 

 smart hits at myself, which, being 

 good-natured, I take in good part, es- 

 pecially the closing one in regard to 

 my prospects as a discoverer. Before 

 I get through this article, it will be 

 seen that I am on a voyage of discov- 

 ery, and if I gain the promised land 

 before he does, I am sine lie will be as 

 ready to crown me. as I have expressed 

 myself to do him that honor, should he 

 prove the lucky man. Meantime, the 

 anti-pollen "hypothesis" is on its 

 trial. 



HEAT IN THE GARRET. 



An experienced Canadian bee-keep- 

 er, Win. J. Whitfield, of Dundas. Out., 

 is crying " Eureka " over a method of 

 wintering, which I do not know how 

 to characterize better than by the 

 above title. After trying a variety of 

 plans for the past 20 years, he has hit 

 upon one which he thinks is as near 

 perfection as we are likely to get-in 

 this world. Let me try to describe it: 

 A sight is chosen for a bee-house on a 

 slope sufficient to bring a 6-inch pipe 

 120 feet long starting at the surface, 

 4 feet below ground when it reaches 

 the center of the bee-house. A well 

 2x2 ft. 6 in., built of stone to the sur- 

 face, forms the final outlet. A plank 

 floor is laid a little open in the cracks 



to admit the air from below. The 

 walls of the bee-house are constructed 

 as follows : First a wall of 3x4 scant- 

 ling tightly boarded on both sides, 

 making a 4-inch dead-air space ; 18 

 inches distant another similar wall, 

 the 18-inch space being filled with dry 

 sawdust. The bee-house is 16x20 out- 

 side, and 12x10 inside. On getting 

 thus far, Mr. W. found that he could 

 not control the temperature. It was 

 either too high or too low. Then he 

 put a pipe 8xS inches through the ceil- 

 ing, but still the house was either too 

 cold or too hot, and more or less damp. 

 Next he put in another pipe a little 

 larger, bringing it in from the south 

 end with an upright shaft 8 feet high. 

 It was run along on the top of the 

 joists to the back end, then down to 

 within 6 inches of the floor, and cov- 

 ered with sawdust. This made things 

 a little better, but improvement was 

 needed yet. Both these pipes had a 

 slide-board in them which could be 

 opened or shut from the top. There 

 was also a small pipe through which 

 a thermometer could be let down and 

 drawn up from above so as to find out 

 the temperature without disturbing 

 the bees. A controllable draft of air 

 was wanted, and to secure this, a 

 small coal stove was put in the garret 

 over the bees. A box was made and 

 lined with zinc to hold the stove. Near 

 the back end, a pipe was put in lead- 

 ing from the ceiling into the stove 

 box. Six inches of sawdust were put 

 under the box to keep the heat from 

 striking through to the bees. The 

 stove was cased with tin from the top 

 of the box to within a few inches of 

 the rafters, leaving space enough at 

 the back to receive a 7-inch stove pipe. 

 Thejsmoke-pipe from the stove is 5- 

 inch. The heated air ascends from 

 the zinc box and tin casing through 

 the vacant space in the 7-inch stove 

 pipe. A strong draft is thus created. 

 By graduating the fire, the tempera- 

 ture of the bee-house can be controlled 

 at will. A moderate fire will keep it 

 at 50° — a strong one will bring it down 

 to 40°. The temperature is kept at 

 50° for the first two weeks after put- 

 ting in the bees, and then generally 

 reduced. If the bee-house is too warm, 

 by putting on the draft the heat will 

 go down one degree per hour. The 

 bees are perfectly quiet, the house is 

 dry, and there is no foul smell of any 

 kind. Before putting in the bees, 3 

 bushels of unslacked lime are put be- 

 neath the floor. 



In reply to the objection that this 

 plan gives trouble, Mr. W. says, " I 

 don't find that we get much in this 

 world without some trouble. All I 

 have to do is to shake down the ashes 

 night and morning and add coal. This 

 is no more trouble than feeding one 

 pig." The air that comes in from the 

 long out-door pipe is atall times, sum- 

 mer and winter, at 45°. This garret- 

 heat plan is also on trial. 



PARLOR WINTERING. 



Now for my own little experiment : 

 I have 2 very weak colonies in my 

 library. Each consists of a mere hand- 

 ful of bees. One has an Italian queen 

 that mated with a black drone ; the 

 other has an Italian queen purely ma- 

 ted. Both are in common out-door 

 hives, but eacli has a wire-cloth cage 

 over it. A slide controls the ordinary 

 entrance. Honey-boards are screwed 

 down, each having a 3-inch hole in the 

 center, covered with wire-cloth. The 

 theory is that bees can take exercise 

 enough within a limited space, just as 

 a man can take exercise enough on a 

 verandah. Moreover, if out-door col- 

 onies can be stimulated so as to in- 

 crease, why not in-door colonies ? 

 These bees have been domiciled in my 

 library nearly a month. I feed them 

 through the wire-cloth opening in the 

 honey-board. When I give them a 

 fly in the cage, they are too intent on 

 getting out to gather feed, but they 

 take to it kindly through the honey- 

 board. I have only to cover the 

 honey-board opening with cloth two 

 or three times folded, to secure perfect 

 silence. Only a few of the bees care 

 to come out when the sliding-doors 

 are opened. These, I believe, are aged 

 bees for the most part, whom instinct 



seems to teach that they must go out 

 of the hive to die. One of these little 

 colonies is the out-come of a black nu- 

 cleus into which I introduced an Ital- 

 ian queen Aug. 15. The bees that 

 come out and die are all black. Not 

 a solitary Italian has yet been found 

 among them. I do not propose to open 

 these hives until spring. If my theory 

 proves sound, they will breed, increase 

 and come out good colonies by that 

 time. If it proves unsound, why, the 

 bees will die — a result sure to have 

 happened out-of-doors. 



Now I don't go 10 to 1 on my theory, 

 like Mr. Heddon, but I have confi- 

 dence enough in it to give it a trial. 

 If it succeeds, there need be no more 

 doubling up of weak colonies or sacri- 

 fice of supernumerary queens in the 

 fall. A moderately-sized room with a 

 coal-stove kept going in it, will hold a 

 lot of these little colonies. If, say. 50 

 can be nursed up from a handful, 

 each to be a good, strong colony, it 

 will pay handsomely, and we may de- 

 vote the summer to honey-gathering, 

 and the winter to building up nuclei 

 into working colonies. " Too good to 

 be true V" Well, perhaps. 



Artificial heat has been tried before 

 now in various ways, but never, I 

 think, in this particular way. Bees 

 have been put in warm rooms, and 

 given liberty now and then. They 

 have made for the glass windows, and 

 been chilled to death. When more 

 than one hive has been liberated in 

 the same room, they have, like Kil- 

 kenny cats, quarrelled and fought un- 

 til destruction came to both or all. I 

 put this forth only as a modest experi- 

 ment, and a humble effort to throw 

 more light on the problem of winter- 

 ing, but possibly I may wake up some 

 fine morning to find myself famous, 

 and my friend Heddon lustily blowing 

 a trumpet before me ! 



Listowel, Ont, Dec. 3, 1881. 



mmA 



Northeastern Wisconsin Convention. 



The Northeastern Wisconsin Bee- 

 Keepers' Association convened at 

 Pewaukee, Oct. 11, at 10 a. m., and in 

 the absence of the President and Sec- 

 retary, and owing to the small number 

 present, was not formally organized 

 till 3 p. m., when, in the continued ab- 

 sence of the President and Secretary, 

 John Hodgson, Jr., was elected Presi- 

 dent pro tan., audi\ E. Turner, Sec- 

 retary pro tern. 



Question.— " Do Italians, Cyprians 

 or black bees winter best ?" 



John Hodgson, Jr., said his Italians 

 gathered impure honey last fall, and 

 all died from the effects of it in win- 

 tering ; his blacks gathered better 

 honey, but did not have enough to run 

 them through the long winter, and a 

 great many starved ; his few Cyprians 

 wintered better than Italians. 



11. P. Sayles had some black bees, 

 some Italians, 4 Cyprian colonies and 

 some hybrids. His small colonies 

 seemed to winter best. The Cyprians 

 wintered the best of all. The blacks 

 all died but one colony, and it became 

 queenless late in the spring. 



T. E. Turner had wintered Italians 

 and Cyprians the past winter with but 

 little difference in the results, all 

 things considered, and what little dif- 

 ference there was, was in favor of the 

 Cyprians. The percentage of loss of 

 the two races was about the same, but 

 the Italians were in much the best 

 condition for winter, and should have 

 done the best. 



Mr. Wilson had Italians and hy- 

 brids ; his pure Italians wintered best. 



Mr. Olsen had Italians and some 

 hybrids, and could see no difference in 

 their wintering. 



Charles Horst had Italians and 

 blacks in the proportion of 11 to 7, and 

 they wintered in proportion of 7 to 2. 



S. E. Gernon had little experience 

 with wintering any but black bees, 

 but regarded all wintering difficult. 



